The Los Angeles Times reports that while the U.S. suspects Iran of developing nuclear weapons, Iran denies this charge. It goes on to report measures taken to improve security including offering more privileges to nuclear engineers to make them less susceptible to bribery and educating staffers about espionage.

Political analysis Web site DEBKAfile extrapolates from this report a connection with the Stuxnet worm, which may have damaged an Iranian reactor earlier this year. DEBKAfile points to a line from the Atomic Energy Commission's educational materials as a possible death threat for scientists who cooperate with foreign agents. They suspect some may have already been executed.

There is no hard evidence to support this claim. Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer for F-Secure, advises readers to "take this claim with a grain of salt." What does seem clear is that the full effect of Stuxnet is not yet known. It may well be true that, as DEBKAfile contends, Iran "has not yet succeeded in bringing its nuclear facilities back to normal operation."

Neil Rubenking served as vice president and president of the San Francisco PC User Group for three years when the IBM PC was brand new. He was present at the formation of the Association of Shareware Professionals, and served on its board of directors. In 1986, PC Magazine brought Neil on board to handle the torrent of Turbo Pascal tips submitted by readers. By 1990, he had become PC Magazine's technical editor, and a coast-to-coast telecommuter. His "User to User" column supplied readers with tips...
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